What else should the war on coal be called?

July 22, 2014

It is illegal to kill certain endangered animals, including golden eagles. If you get caught doing so, even accidentally, the federal government will punish you with stiff fines.

That is, unless you are the Shiloh IV Wind Project LLC in California. If you are that firm, no problem.

At the same time they are doing all in their power to shut down the coal-fired power plants that provide cheap electricity for West Virginians, Ohioans and tens of millions of other Americans, President Barack Obama and others in his administration are giving every break in the book to operators of "alternative" energy companies.

And when there are not enough breaks in the book, the Obama administration will invent new ones.

It was revealed several months ago that the government was not enforcing laws meant to protect endangered animals when they were broken by wind energy farms. That is despite the fact enormous numbers of protected birds are killed by wind turbine blades every year.

Now, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is making it official. It has granted Shiloh IV a permit allowing the facility to kill as many as five golden eagles during the next five years.

Fish and Wildlife Service Director Daniel Ashe said the move will encourage development of renewable energy. And, he added, it will be good for golden eagles in the long run, because Shiloh IV is required to take steps to limit bird kills.

Incredible. By that logic, operators of coal-fired power plants ought to be exempt from the Environmental Protection Agency's new, draconian rules if the utilities promise to do what they can to limit carbon dioxide emissions.

No such offer has been made by the Obama administration, of course. And, as we have reported, while billions of dollars are being flushed down the government toilet in subsidies to "alternative" energy companies, funding for clean coal research has been slashed.

We and others have been criticized for using the term "war on coal." Well, let's see: The White House does all in its power to promote expensive, impractical methods of generating power, while making it impossible to operate coal-fired generating stations that produce affordable electricity. What, exactly, should his campaign be called?